Old Fashioned

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some thematic material.
Run Time: 115 Minutes
My Rating: 3.5/5
So today I went and saw Freestyle Releasing's and Skoche Films' Old Fashioned starring Elizabeth Rogers (Days of Our Lives) and Rik Swartzwelder in his first full-length feature film debut.  Rik Swartzwelder also directed and wrote this film.  The film follows the love story between Clay and Amber.  Clay is a former frat party boy who after a series of events turns his life around and dedicates his life to the Lord.  He has placed very strict rules on himself when it comes to women which has pushed most people out of his life.  Amber is a free-spirited woman who is looking to start a new life and rents the room about Clay's antique shop. When Clay and Amber start to have feelings for each other, she respects Clay's rules and the two of them try to do the impossible: have an actual "old-fashioned" relationship in present-day America.
First off, this film has brought about one of the biggest box-office battles in recent years and the sad part about it is that you haven't even heard of it.  This film came out last weekend against Fifty Shades of Grey.  Where one film shows how disrespecting women and using them as objects rather than human beings, the other one talks about how important it is to respect a woman's body and emotions.  This film is the complete opposite of Fifty Shades of Grey and shows how important it is to be chaste and pure and how the "world" views those people that practice these virtues.  To be honest, this film shows these "world" views perfectly.  I think it is interesting that the film that shows the degradation of women was the one that got all the hype while the one that shows how important it is to treat women with respect is the one that no one has even heard of.  Just that aspect alone shows how much our society has changed.  It is this social commentary that the film excels on.  The whole cast and crew did a spectacular job at showing just much our world has changed.  That was my favorite part of the film and will be yours when you see it.
Though I thought that the film touched on very important issues and I applaud the film for standing up for chastity and morals, there were things in this film that I thought could have been better.  I felt like the film was trying to show the complete opposite end of the chastity spectrum that the entire time it made the Clay unlikable.  However, the film redeems itself in the last 5 minutes.  Also along those lines, this film tries way too hard.  Now I am not saying that it is a bad thing, I am just saying that some of the scenes could have been removed and the meaning would have remained powerful. However, once again, I completely respect and support this film in its morals and its position on respecting women.
Overall, I really liked this film.  I would definitely see this film again.  For those of you that want to see what a real relationship looks like, then this is definitely the film for you.  Even though everyone flocked to see Fifty Shades of Grey when it first opened, this film truly shows the kind of relationship every girl wants.  Though most will deny it, this is the one they truly long for.  Old Fashioned is by far the greatest romantic film out right now and if you have the opportunity to see it, you definitely should.